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Head gasket--might as well?

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19_again

19_again

Jedi Warrior
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Well, I sent my rocker assembly out to the left coast 'cause Doc told me to. And since I have the head loosened I figured I may as well change out the gasket if it only involves a simple lifting of the head, changing the gasket and reseating the head. Any suggestions would be quickly considered.
Mike
 
Yep, Payen....While you're there - how are the side cover gaskets?
 
Now stop that!! I'll be in tdskip's shoes in no time here. I hadn't thought about them, pretty soon I'll be changin light bulbs again. I've never been this far down into an engine, is this a simple "lift and replace" deal? And where do the donut downpipe gaskets go?
 
Just remember when your reinstalling the head keep your fingers out of the way of the studs especialy the short ones. I lost my right ring finger nail while sliding the head down the long studs with my finger over the hole for one of the short studs. Kinda hurt.
 
19_again said:
And where do the donut downpipe gaskets go?
Click to expand...

Those are the gaskets that go between your exhaust manifold and the exhaust pipes leading back from the engine. A word of caution - this can easily turn into a BIG DEAL operation, especially if it's been a long time since these gaskets were installed. The six nuts that have to be removed are often rusted and frozen in place. If you twist one or more off (i.e., snap the bolt), you'll probably have to remove the exhaust manifold (which will also entail removing the carbureators, etc.) and have a machine shop put in new bolts.
 
I must have replaced those downpipe gaskets when I put in the new peco exhaust system. I took off the manifold and took the bench grinder brush to it just to clean it up a little.
 
And a "proceedure" for the block: stuff the bores with paper towels. edge to edge. NO junk/swarf/dirt to be allowed down there to get between the pistons and the bore! Both head and block surfaces need to be really-REALLY clean and free of any old gasket or deposits. Hospital clean, Get a can of Permatex HiTack to spray a LIGHT coat on the new gasket. Assembly is reverse of above... don't forget to carefully remove the towels. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
 
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